lutwtche



UNITED SIAT'ES PATENT EEICE.

EDGAR J. Lu'rwYoI-IE, oErc'I-IIcAepo, ILLINOIS, AssIeNoR oE oNE-roURTI-I To ELIZABETH A. LUTwYcI-IE, oE sAME PLACE.

LETT-ER ojal CHARACTER `FOR SIGNS.

.SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 591,536, dated October 12, 1897. Application filed December 1896. Serial 110.614,595. (No model.)

To @ZZ vwhom t may concern.:

Beit known that I, EDGAR J. LUTwYcHE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State o f Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Letters" or Characters for Signs; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled -in the art to which it appertains to make and like view showing a modification in the back of the letter; Fig. 4, a side view-of a character or symbol; Fig. 5, a transversesection of the same; Fig. 6, a like view of the'same in modified form; Fig.` 7, an elevation of another character or symbol; Fig. 8, a transverse section of the same, and Fig. 9 a like view of the same inmodified form.

Reference being had .to the drawings and the letters thereon', A indicates a' letter of the alphabet, B a character or symbol, in this figures, or symbols 'are made of amber-coloredv instance a cigar, and C another character or symbol, a keg, cask, or barrel. These are employed simply to illustrate the application of my invention, which is designed'for advertising wares'and products of various arts and manufactures by using symbols thereof as sign-characters. The letters, characters,

' transparent material, such 'as glass, and on the back or inside of the letter is applied nit1ateof''silverV solution for forming a coat- Ing a.

Theback of the letter or character may be i in the form of a plane flat surface, as shown at b, Figs. 2, 5, and 8, or it may be concave, as shown at c in Figs. 3, 6, and 9, and the face or front d convex in transverse or cross section.

In practicing my invention I use the following solutions: l

Solution No. 1: Pure nitrate of silver in crystals dissolved in distilled water, and after the nitrate of silver has been thoroughly dissolved and settled add very slowly drop by drop strong aqua ammonia until it clears up to a light coffee color.

Solution No. 2: Rochelle salts (soda potassa tartrate) dissolved in boiling water. To this add very slowly drop by drop a sufficient quantity of nitrate of silver which has beenpreviously dissolved in distilled water, and when cooled filter the Vsolution through filtering-paper.

The articles to be treated, which are made of colored glass of the proper shade, either letters, figures, characters, or symbols, are

4first thoroughly cleansed and placed upon a pour the mixed solution on the back of the article until it is entirely covered and allow it to remain Afrom three-fourths to one hour, according to the heat used. As the solution evaporates the silver is precipitated or deposited on the article and the remaining liquid is poured off and the silvered surface thoroughly rinsed with water and the article allowed to dry. The silver coating is then coated or backed with a lead or metallic paint or with asphaltum. The paint excludes the air from the silver and prevents oxidation, thereby preserving the brilliant appearance of the silver, which, combined with the colored glass, has the same effect as gold-leaf upon plain or colorlessA glass or silver-leaf, tin-foil, or aluminium upon the back of amber or other colored glass and produces the appearance of a gold letter, igure,.charac ter, or symbol capable of being manufactured at a greatly reduced cost as compared with such articles made by the use of gold-leaf'or uncolored glass.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim'is l. A letter, iigure, character, or symbol having a body of transparent and amber tinted or colored material and one side thereof covered with a brilliant coating, producing IOO in eiect, a gold letter, iigure, character or symbol.

2. Aletter, iigure, character, or symbol having a body of amber tinted or colored transparent material and one side thereof coated with a deposit from nitrate of silver, producing in eiect, a gold letter, figure, character' or symbol.

3. A letter, figure, character or symbol having a body of amber tinted or colored glass and one side thereof covered with a brilliant material, producing in eiect, a gold letter,

ligure, character or symbol.

4. A letter, figure, character or symbol having a body of amber tinted or colored glass and one side thereof silver-coated, producing in effect, a gold letter, figure, character or symbol.

EDGAR J. LUTVVYCHE.

Witnesses:

O. G. WEMICKE, EDWARD GEGENHEIMER. 

